A Bet Worth More Than Money Part One

Chapter Four: Songs and Scares

Non possiedo Hetalia

The car ride was not short and sweet. First of all, going into town from where Lovino lived made it quite the ride. Second, the Spaniard wouldn't shut up. At least Antonio stopped his rambling from time to time when Lovino swatted the back of his head. Antonio went on and on about how nice it was out at the moment, or about his tomato farm. He just wouldn't shut up.

When Lovino had enough, he swats the Spaniard on the one last time, making it hard enough to completely shut him up. Once the cozy silence settled in, Antonio decided to put on the radio. The song that the station was playing was 'Torero'. The taller of the to got giddy, since it was one of his favourite songs.

"De lunes a domingo voy desesperado, el corazón prendido en el calendario…" Antonio sung, earning a growl from his friend. With another bright smile, he patted Lovino's head, and started to sing along once more. "Buscándote y buscando como un mercenario, tú dime dónde estás, que yo no te he encontrado…"

The Italian sulked for the rest of the car ride, and that encouraged the Spaniard to try to light the mood. An upset Lovino meant an upset Antonio. With this in mind, Antonio parked his car, and got out, waiting for Lovino. When he didn't come out of the car, the Spaniard went over to the passengers seat side of the car. He saw his companion still pouting, crossing his arms.

"Come on, Lovi~! We have places to be and people to see…!" Antonio exclaimed into the slightly opened window. He saw Lovino let out a heavy sigh, then went to open the door. The Spaniard moved out of the way when he noticed Lovino was aiming for him. "Thats mean…."

The taller of the two went to the trunk, and took out a pack of tomatoes. Lovino eyed him with curiosity. 'Snacks, really?' the Italian thought. Shaking it off, he watched as the Spaniard started walking to the park. Antonio began waving at him when he didn't follow.

"I don't wanna wait all day for you, amigo!" Antonio exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips with a smirk. Lovino gave off a sigh, crossed his arms, then began following his companion.

They eventually ended up walking together without one walking behind the other. Whenever Antonio got to close, and ended up making their shoulders or hands touch, the grumpy of the two would growl, and push the Spaniard off the trail. He found himself very entertained by the way he yelped, and that helped with his fowl mood.

One time, when their hands brushed against one another, that caused a blush to rise of the Italian's face. He pushed Antonio away, but what he did to put a twist on it, was that the Spaniard got a grip on Lovino's wrist, and took him down with him. Antonio fell down face first, while Lovino landed on him. Before the Italian could collect his thoughts, he felt something slimy on his arms.

Looking down at Antonio, he saw a puddle of red mush-like liquid flowing away from them. He screamed, jumping to the conclusion that it was Antonio's blood. "Oh m-mio dio! Antonio!?" he shouted, and didn't get a response. Fear started coursing through his veins, and got off the taller of the two. Lovino flipped Antonio over to see what he could do to help.

It was then that he heard the Spaniard start to chuckle. The fear that was once present in his eyes had clouded over with confusion. Antonio started to sit up, taking in big gulps of air before starting to full-out laugh. Lovino just stared at him in shock and anger.

"W-What the hell was that a-about, idiota…!? I thought you were dying!" Lovino hissed through clenched teeth. When Antonio subdued his fit, he smiled at the Italian.

"T-Thats the tomatoes that got squished!" he tried to explain.

"Then why didn't you respond to me…?" Lovino interrogated.

With a sigh, the Spaniard said, "I had lost my breath from the fall, so I couldn't talk or breath at the moment." Lovino just rolled his eyes, blushing, then added a pout. "… Sorry for worrying you, Lovi…." Antonio added. The shorter of the two got up, and started walking, then running away from the whole scene.

Once Lovino got to a nice secluded bench, he sits down and tried to calm down. 'That… was embarrassing…' the Italian thought. 'Tch, the mess that will be stained on his clothing will be horrid….' While lost in his thoughts, his cell phone began to ring. He was startled by it, but recovered to answer it.

"Ciao, Lovino Vargas here." the Italian began. On the other line was silence, before a soft, whimpered 'Fratello' came through the speaker. With a sigh, Lovino closes his eyes. "What, Feliciano."

"I'm sorry, but…" Feliciano started, "… Why don't you like Luddy?" Before Lovino could reply, his brother cut him off. "I mean, I wanna be friends with him, hang around him, but he doesn't want to anger you! Please, could you be nicer to him…?" he begged.

"I…" the grumpy brother began, but then thought back to how happy his brother seemed just talking about his 'friend'. "Fine. I will try, but I won't put that much freaking effort into it!" he finalized. A small cheer came from the cellphone, which gave Lovino the urge to crack a small smile. Shaking the feeling off, Feliciano began talking again.

"Also, fratello, I'm sorry for making you angry…" the younger of the two whimpered.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, I gotta go look for the tomato bastard. Arrivederci." Lovino said, and hung up after getting a goodbye from his brother.

He got off the bench, and decided to go down the path that he had left the Spaniard at. When he didn't see him near the puddle of tomatoes, he decided to go back to the car. Once he reached the vehicle, he saw Antonio in the front seat changing his shirt. He began to feel heat on his cheeks when he realized he was seeing Antonio half-naked. Lovino turned around, and leaned on the car, waiting for his companion.